Government to expand school meal programme nationwide in phases.
State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Bobby Hajjaj today said the 'School Meal' programme will be expanded in phases to all government primary schools across the country to ensure nutritious food for school students.
"The government's primary objective is to ensure nutrition for every primary school student," he said when World Food Programme (WFP) Bangladesh Country Director and Representative Ms. Coco H. Ushiyama paid a courtesy call on him at his office at the Secretariat here.
During the meeting, the two sides discussed the expansion of the school meal programme in government primary schools across Bangladesh, ensuring nutritious food for students, the possibility of introducing cooked hot meals on a pilot basis in the future, effective monitoring of the programme, and strengthening digital management, among other related issues.
Hajjaj said transparency, accountability, and a technology-based monitoring system are crucial for the successful implementation of the School Meal programme.
The discussion also highlighted the experience of India's school meal programme and its relevance to Bangladesh's social and cultural context.
The State Minister stressed the need for separate need-based plans, taking into account differences between urban and rural areas, geographical diversity, and varying socio-economic conditions across the country.
Ushiyama said the school meal programme not only ensures students' nutrition but also plays an important role in increasing school attendance, preventing dropouts, improving the quality of education, and promoting healthy eating habits.
She noted that WFP has achieved positive results in different countries by integrating school meal programmes with school gardens, nutrition education, and local agricultural systems.
The meeting also discussed the improvement of the existing Integrated Primary Education Information Management System of the Directorate of Primary Education and WFP's technical support for developing an integrated information management system in the future. Both sides agreed on the need to enhance the effectiveness of the school meal programme.
Senior officials of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and WFP were present at the meeting.
